College Basketball Daily Fantasy Helper: Wednesday 1/9/19

Marquette's Markus Howard is worth paying up for in a fast-paced game versus Creighton. Which players can help you fit him in tonight?

College basketball season is back! And this year, with it comes the return of college basketball DFS.

March Madness is still two months away, but you can get in all the college hoops hype by playing daily contests at FanDuel today. If you've played NBA DFS before, it's quite simple: pick a total of eight players -- four guards, three forwards and one utility spot you can use for either position. Stay within the $50,000 salary cap and field the team you think will score the most fantasy points.

Where scoring differs from NBA is in the blocks and steals categories, with each worth two FanDuel points apiece rather than the three you get in daily NBA contests.

Now that you're in the know, we can attack today's main slate, which locks at 7:00 p.m. EST and includes 16 games. It's the biggest slate we've seen this year, and it's highlighted by a top-25 matchup between Big 12 foes Kansas and TCU.

Wednesday, January 9th

#16 Ohio State at Rutgers

Florida at Arkansas

#17 Houston at Temple

Butler at Seton Hall

#21 Marquette at Creighton

#25 TCU at #7 Kansas

#9 Virginia Tech at Georgia Tech

Miami at #13 Florida State

West Virginia at Kansas State

#4 Virginia at Boston College

#11 Auburn at Ole Miss

Iowa at Northwestern

Clemson at Syracuse

Arizona State at California

Louisville at Pittsburgh

Arizona at Stanford

Which players should you be targeting, and why?

Guards

Markus Howard, Marquette ($8,500): As the 21st-ranked Marquette Golden Eagles travel to Omaha to take on the Creighton Bluejays, they draw a 77-point implied total in a game with the single-highest over/under on this evening's giant slate. That's just below their season average of 78.5 points and exceeds all but five of their end-of-game totals this year. Howard has been a big part of their offense's success, leading the team with 24.0 points per game on 17.0 field goal attempts (9.1 from three). In addition to his scoring, the junior has, in 32.7 minutes a game, contributed 4.2 assists, 3.9 rebounds and 1.1 steals en route to 34.0 FanDuel points per game, which trails only two others on the slate. In a game like this, he could easily get over the 35 or 40 mark with the Bluejays ranked 119th in KenPom.com's adjusted defensive efficiency and 251st in points allowed per game.

Terence Davis, Ole Miss ($7,600): On Wednesday night, three games are expected to total over 150 points, so Auburn/Ole Miss -- a 150 over/under -- could go more overlooked than it would on other less loaded slates. But that creates a nice opportunity to get upside at low ownership, and Davis is one form of that. The senior guard is averaging 28.6 FanDuel points with five games north of 30 and two beyond 40. He is second on the team in usage (26.3%) and rebound rate (13.4%), while hauling in 23.2% of available defensive boards. Auburn is 249th in total rebounding and have allowed 78 or more points on four occasions this year.

Remy Martin, Arizona State ($6,600): California owns by far the least efficient defense on Wednesday's main slate. In allowing 111.1 points per 100 possessions, the Bears are 326th in the nation and give up 79.6 points per game. Naturally, Arizona State's 82.25 implied total is tops on the night and nearly two points above their already high season average. Martin, the Sun Devils' starting point man, is averaging 22.9 FanDuel points on 12.0 points, 4.0 assists, 3.4 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game. This all-around production keeps his floor at a good level, but prior to a tough outing against Colorado he enjoyed a five-game stretch in which he scored in double figures four times and averaged 26.5 FanDuel points -- a hair above his salary-implied number (at four times value) of 26.4.

Quentin Grimes, Kansas ($5,800): TCU is a very good basketball team, ranking 27th overall and 38th defensively, according to Ken Pom. It's for that reason that despite a lofty 78.75 point total you should temper expectations for Kansas players tonight. But there needs to be some level of exposure, and Grimes is playing as well as any Jayhawk of late, coming off a 19-point game in which he totaled 29.2 FanDuel points. In logging 31 minutes, he made it three of the last four playing 30 or more. The talented freshman requires just 23.2 FanDuel points tonight, and he's in a price range devoid of great options at the guard slot.

Malik Dunbar, Auburn ($4,800): Full disclosure: Dunbar is a tourney play only. Although his team is expected to score 76.25 points in a high total game, the 6'6" sophomore has been really reliant on scoring and averages just 15.3 FanDuel points per game on the year. In his last four games, he's tallied 13.1, 17.8, 10.1 and 21.6 FanDuel points with his two games above 15 coming on 12 and 11 points, respectively. However, he has five games of 20 or more FanDuel points on a season-long usage of 21.0% in 18.2 minutes a game. And the game environment gives him an even higher likelihood of hitting 20 or more again.

Forwards

Oshae Brissett, Syracuse ($8,100): With so many teams and games at your disposal, the Syracuse Orange against the Clemson Tigers might be the last thing you think of. 'Cuse has an implied total higher than only six other teams, and the over/under sits at a low 131 points. But this is Syracuse we're talking about; they're used to playing low-scoring grind-it-out games behind their zone defense. So far that hasn't been a problem for Brissett, who's averaging 14.2 points, 8.5 rebounds and 29.4 FanDuel points. He has seven times this season reached or exceed this evening's salary-implied output (32.4), most notably last time out against Notre Dame (37.2). The other six have come at home, where the Orange play tonight.

KZ Okpala, Stanford ($7,400): At 68.5 points, Stanford is another team with a low implied total, meaning they too could fly under the radar. For most players, it's fine to avoid them, but Okpala is another story entirely. The sophomore forward is putting up 28.1 FanDuel points a game, which is more than four players price at or higher than his price tag. Granted, that average includes four duds below 20, but it also comes on six games over 30 and two of 40-plus, maxing out at 53.5 to open the season. He's been even better at home, where he's averaged 18.4 points on 62.0%, ultimately tallying 29.3 FanDuel points a game and 1.06 per minute.

Martin Krampelj, Creighton ($6,100): At home, Creighton is implied at a very healthy 80.5 points, which checks in second on the slate. They're facing a Marquette team that -- like them -- is in the top 100 in adjusted tempo yet outside the top 40 in defense. The points are there for the taking, so a guy at this middle-of-the-road cost is very appealing. And that's particularly the case with Krampelj, who's riding a hot streak, having gone for 26.8 FanDuel points or more in three of his last four. He's nearly averaged a double-double in that span, and there's no reason for him to put up a dud in this spot. He uses a very respectable 22.6% of his team's offensive possessions, and the Bluejays will need him to have a good game to come out with the win tonight.

Romello White, Arizona State ($5,600): Tonight, many will look to roster the higher-priced Zylan Cheatham ($7,700), who has averaged nearly 30 FanDuel points a game. For cash games, that's just fine, but for tournaments White can provide the necessary salary relief to pay up for a Howard and/or Brissett. highest total of the night, vs. Cal, worst defense. Two 30-point games in last three. Teammate Kimani Lawrence ($4,600) as a lower-priced punt play.

Brett Oswalt is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Brett Oswalt also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username BRO14THEKID. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in his articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.